The invention relates to a convertible automobile with a windscreen which is arranged behind a row of seats and extends upwards over and beyond this row of seats and which spans the entire interior width of the vehicle.
A windscreen of this general type for a convertible automobile is known from German Utility Model 8,617,748 which uses a transparent pane and which, because of its impermeability to air, affords only moderate wind protection.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,147 shows the proposal to stretch a close-mesh fly screen outside the normal and lowerable windows of a vehicle to keep insects, dust, etc., away from the vehicle interior and at the same time prevent excessive heating of the vehicle interior under intensive solar radiation.
The object on which the present invention is based was to develop a windscreen of a generic type in such a way that annoying draft phenomena are prevented while maintaining the typical "convertible feel".
According to the present invention, this object is achieved in that a windscreen is formed by a stretched elastically deformable net which causes a deceleration of the air flow impinging on the driver from the rear of the vehicle.
The special effect of the windscreen according to the invention is based on the following conditions.
In the passenger space of a convertible automobile, a pronounced vacuum is generated during motoring and this leads to noisy air vortices which are also experienced as annoying drafts. Even the known windscreen according to German Utility Model 8,617,748 can change these conditions only slightly. In contrast, by a windscreen according to the instant invention, the vacuum is filled in a proportioned manner, so that there is virtually no noise nuisance and the remaining draft is experienced only as a slight breeze.
A further advantage is obtained if the windscreen is arranged upright or inclined slightly forwards; if the windscreen has a frame carrying the net; if the net design allows for a view to the rear of the automobile; if the windscreen consists of several parts which have a hinge connection therebetween: if a plurality of windscreens are arranged in succession as walls at a distance from one another in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle; if the windscreen can be swung down rearwards into a position of rest at least over some of its height; if the windscreen extends vertically downwards as far as the vehicle floor; if the windscreen is formed of two net parts with an upright part terminating with its lower edge approximately level with the rim edge of a side of the automobile and merges thereat into an approximately horizontal part closing off as openings behind the seats; if the windscreen has a rigid or collapsible roll bar frame providing a lateral seal relative to the side pane; if the windscreen is designed as a window blind arranged inside the roll bar to be withdrawn therefrom; and wherein under a tensile load of 10 N, the net has an extension of between 4% and 40%.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.